A’s left-hander Brett Anderson says he’s not the biggest NFL nut, but he takes a rooting interest in Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Brandon Weeden. Weeden played quarterback at Oklahoma State, which is where Anderson’s father, Frank, is the head baseball coach. As you may know, Weeden was drafted in the second round out of high school as a pitcher and played in the New York Yankees system before quitting baseball and enrolling at Oklahoma State to play football. He and Anderson became friends during his time at OSU. “He’d come out in the summer and help my Dad with camps,” Anderson said. The two keep in contact on Twitter. “He said congratulations after my first start back (from elbow surgery),” Anderson said. “To be drafted in the first round in football and second round in baseball, it’s crazy. He’s an easy guy to root for.” Weeden also has a younger brother, Ty, who is Anderson’s age and played catcher for four seasons in the Red Sox’s and Nationals’ organizations.

–Mariners shortstop Brendan Ryan had a couple interesting quotes about the A’s in Sunday’s Seattle Times. “I mean no disrespect when I say it, but on paper it’s not the most intimidating team,” he said. “They’ve got some things working, and it’s an even bigger tip of the hat that they’re getting it done without — no disrespect again — without marquee names and all that stuff. That’s just good baseball, and they’re finding ways to get it done.”

Sort of a compliment, and sort of a shot. But it didn’t ruffle too many feathers inside the A’s clubhouse. “I’m sure it could be construed either way,” Anderson said. “But I kind of see where he’s coming from in that aspect. You ask the random fan across the country to name some Athletics, and they’re gonna have to think about it or they won’t be able to. But it doesn’t really matter to us because we’ve been winning ball games. As long as we keep winning, we can kind of brush off anything, even if it’s meant to be nice but can be construed as negative.”

Third baseman Josh Donaldson didn’t take much offense.

“I think we have a lot of young guys on our team that people don’t know about,” he said. “The most important thing is we’re all going out there collectively as team and getting our ‘W’s. I think that says the most about our team.”

–The A’s had nothing new to report on Brandon McCarthy’s condition, which is probably a good thing at this point as he is four days removed from his brain surgery.